Local green-business owner and Licking County native Teresa Peters
won the 2012 Environmental Watchdog award on Saturday, November 10 at
the Ohio Environmental Council’s annual Green Gala award ceremony in
Columbus.
The Ohio Environmental Council (OEC) is a leading advocate for fresh
air, clean water, and sustainable land use. The OEC has a widely
respected 40-year history of innovation, pragmatism, and success. Using
legislative initiatives, legal action, scientific principles, and
statewide partnerships, OEC works to secure a healthier environment for
Ohio's families and communities.
This special environmental achievement award was given to Ms. Peters
in recognition of her successful efforts to promote eco-friendly
products, information, and local food. Teresa said, “I have great
respect for OEC and am deeply honored to receive this award. I will do
my best to use this platform and my voice to bring these important
issues to the forefront of the environmental conversation in Ohio.” See
the full transcript of Ms. Peters’ remarks below.
Teresa Peters is living with metastatic breast cancer. Some people
might give up hope, but not Ms. Peters, who has dedicated her life to
educating others about chemical and environmental hazards to human
health.
Teresa was born in Ohio and raised in Licking County. A life-long
activist, she is a lawyer by training and spent 24 years living and
working around the world on civil rights and socioeconomic development,
including stints in Paris and Cape Town. She returned to Ohio after her
cancer diagnosis in 2009 and now is actively involved in grassroots
organizations that serve her local community.
In 2011, she and her partner Mike Bauer opened The Going Green Store
in Granville, a general store for the modern world which provides
products, information, and food to help people live healthier,
eco-friendly lives. With the store as a platform, together they work to
raise awareness about how things like water quality, food choices,
sustainable farming, and household chemicals affect people and the
planet, and host a website that keeps people abreast of local and
regional issues.
Ms. Peters is also actively involved with the Licking County
Concerned Citizens for Public Health & Environment, a local group
working to ensure that those affected by deep shale drilling (aka
“fracking”) in Licking County can be well-informed about the risks and
empowered to protect themselves. She helped the group launch the website
www.LCountyFracking.org. Ms. Peters also supports the Licking County
Local Food Council, along with other local and national organizations
working on food access, environmental protection, public health, and
local economic development.
The 2012 Environmental Achievement Award Winners included:
- LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT: Governor Bob Taft
- PUBLIC SERVANT: Representative Robert Hagan, (D) Youngstown; and Senator Frank LaRose, (R) Akron
- CONSERVATION ACHIEVEMENT: Rick Clark, Howland Township
- CONSERVATION ACHIEVEMENT: Richard Moseley, Retired Chief, Ohio Division of Natural Areas and Preserves
- ENVIRONMENTAL WATCHDOG: Teresa Peters, Granville
- GREEN JOBS & INNOVATION: City of Cincinnati and Cincinnati Zoo
The full transcript of Ms. Peters’ remarks at the Green Gala ceremony:
I have metastatic breast cancer; for those of you who aren’t as
familiar with cancer as I am, “metastatic” means cancer that has spread.
In my case, it’s in my lungs, bones, and brain, and my prognosis is not
good. I’m not a “cancer survivor”; that title denotes someone has lived
for five years after diagnosis, and I haven’t passed that mark yet --
but I intend to. In the meantime, I’m just a woman who is facing down
cancer every day.
Cancer. That got your attention. It has a way of doing that. It
certainly got my attention. Who in this room has been touched by cancer,
either you have it yourself or someone close to you has it? It’s not
surprising to see so many hands because now it is predicted that 1 in 2
people in our country will get cancer in their lifetime. That should get
everyone’s attention.
My approach to cancer was to learn about my body and what affects
it, and I’m taking every step I can to stack the odds in my favor. That
means eliminating all the toxins I can and improving my diet and
changing my lifestyle. And something is working because every day I live
now I am defying the statistics.
Along the way, I have learned a lot on this cancer journey, and
now I’m on a mission to share what I’ve learned. About risks to our
water supply, our food supply, our air. About the widespread use of
under-regulated chemicals in just about everything, including chemicals
that are known carcinogens and hormone-disruptors. About the toxic soup
we all swim in every day.
And I’ve come to feel pretty strongly that spending so much of
our time and money on funding pharmaceutical cures seems to be missing
part of the point. When I talk about cancer I want to talk about what is
causing this epidemic, and what this toxic soup is doing to the next
generation.
I’m lucky to have the resources to do things to keep myself
healthy and avoid side effects from the drugs I take. For example, we
have a whole-house water filter. I only eat local and organic food --
whole foods, mostly vegetables. And I have the wherewithal to learn
about the toxins that I bring into my home in everyday cleaning products
and body care products and take steps to limit my exposure. But many
people either don’t have the resources or the capacity to do all I’ve
done, or they don’t know how important it is.
A couple of weeks ago I read about how the presidential
candidates eat organic food, and I thought that was great, but it made
me wonder if they avoid genetically-modified foods too and I thought
about how ironic that would be. President Obama won the election. Now we
need to find a way to get more done on the environmental agenda. When I
watched the presidential debates, I cringed every time one of the
candidates talked about how great it is that US gas and oil drilling is
moving our country toward energy independence, because all I could think
about was fracking in Ohio and the potential catastrophic effects on
our water supply here.
But environmental issues are tough, and so political. Climate
change. Endangered species. These are hot button words, divisive words,
that spark partisan reactions.
Cancer. Now that is a different kind of hot button word, and I
wonder if there is a way we can tap that energy for the environmental
movement. Health affects everyone. It makes environmental issues
personal, and I think this can be a galvanizing force to bring people
together to get bi-partisan support for key issues that affect us all.
For example: Effective, enforceable fracking legislation.
Labeling for genetically-modified foods. Supporting local farmers with a
decent farm bill so they can give us the food supply we all deserve.
Regulating the uncontrolled use of chemicals. ... We can all come
together on these issues when a health lens is applied.
This is what I’m working on now.
=> Through my work with The Going Green Store. My partner Mike
Bauer does all the hard work to run the store, but together we are
trying to show people that the products they choose can make a
difference. We want to demonstrate that environmental stewardship can be
business-friendly.
=> Through my work with the Licking County Concerned Citizens
for Public Health & Environment, we are trying to raise awareness
about fracking in our county, and are working in a bi-partisan way to
include everyone. We are providing information about risks and safety in
a way that can reach everyone, whether they have signed a lease or not,
to make sure that no one is alienated and everyone has a place to go
for information.
=> And through my writing on health.
I want to thank the OEC for this award, as well as my friend and
colleague in the Concerned Citizens group, Doris Jane Conway, who
nominated me for the award. I also want to thank Rachel Carlson (who
wrote Silent Spring) for her groundbreaking work in this area which set
the stage for so much of what I do now. I will do my best to use this
platform and my voice to bring these important issues to the forefront
of the environmental conversation, and I hope to work in partnership
with all of you. Thank you.
